In episode 327 of the Functional Nerds Podcast, Patrick Hester and John Anealio welcome Rob Reid, author of After On – The definitive novel of today’s Silicon Valley. After On flash captures our culture and technological movement with up-to-the-instant savvy. Matters of privacy and government intrusion, post-Tinder romance, nihilistic terrorism, artificial consciousness, synthetic biology and much more are tackled with authority and brash playfulness by New York Times best selling author Rob Reid.

About Rob: Rob Reid is an author of speculative fiction based in New York City. His new novel, After On (release date: August 1, 2017), concerns a diabolical social network (Phluttr) with the means and (perhaps?) the inclination to take full control of human society. His prior novel, Year Zero, was a New York Times bestseller, and depicts a vast alien civilization whose obsession with American pop music bankrupts the entire universe. A former venture capitalist, Rob was the founder, CEO, and later Chairman of Listen.com, which created & developed Rhapsody – the first online music service to secure full-catalog licenses from all of the major labels. Rhapsody created the unlimited streaming model later adopted by Spotify, Apple, and many others.

This week’s picks:

* Rob: The Go! Team: Rolling Blackouts

* John: Setlist.fm

* Patrick: Bosch – Amazon Prime

Links:

* Rob Reid on Twitter

* John Anealio on Twitter

* Patrick Hester on Twitter

* The Functional Nerds Patreon Page

* Patrick’s New Book: Into the Fire (available everywhere)

© 2017 Patrick Hester and John Anealio

This podcast contains original music by John Anealio.